Saturday, March 16, 2013

The Book of Jotham by Arthur Powers

ww.amazon.com/The-Book-of-Jotham-ebook/dp/B00B1Z7VWI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363035308&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Book+of+Jotham

I'm not one for doing book reviews but I downloaded this to my Kindle--it was free--yesterday and finished it yesterday.  It's not a long book but it makes you take a long look at yourself.

The world looks at what are now euphemistically referred to as "Special Needs Children" with pity then, having said the politically correct thing and quickly noted the similarity or dissimilarity of the child to other "normal" children, moves quickly on with life.  Most people don't stop to really look at the child and realize that they are alive and although they don't react, think or speak the way others do, they still feel.  They are still capable of great love and great sorrow.  They are still capable of joy and sadness.  They may be unable to show or express themselves as others do, but their soul is the same as everyone's.  It is only their physical nature that is different.

And that is the central theme of The Book of Jotham by Arthur Powers.  God doesn't care about a person's physical nature and a person's physical nature may conceal a soul that is more perfect than we "normal people" can imagine.

Jotham is in his day a simpleton but now would be a Special Needs person.  When you open this book prepare to enter into Jotham's world and his encounter with Jesus and pure love from Jotham's viewpoint.  When you finish you will never look at another human being like Jotham and stop at the surface of their similarity or dissimilarity to everyone else.  And despite it being a fictional story of Christ's last days, you will never again doubt that all are equal in God's eyes.  You will even be envious of Jotham.

We all use our intellectual capability to read and absorb an author's ideas.  In reading this book I strongly suggest that you read not only with your eyes and your brain, but with your heart.  You will not regret it.


Friday, March 15, 2013

NFL Changes Rules on Contact

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/NFL/2013/03/14/20655776.html?cid=rsssportsnfl
Still under consideration are requirements that linebackers wear pink jerseys and corner backs and the safety wear tutu's and ballet slippers.  And in other reports, Knute Rockne's grave has been emitting seismic tremors as it appears he is spinning at a high rate of speed.

While we can make jokes about this, we must recognize that all contact sports are, by nature, dangerous.  I don't think there is anything we do in life that is absolutely safe and I've always felt that the risks taken by football players were one of the major justifications for the huge salaries that they are paid and the high price of tickets that are collected by the team owners.  And let us not forget the money paid by TV networks to the NFL for broadcast rights.  (That it is a rugged sport is why I played football in high school as sort of a rite of passage into acceptance as a man.   I was just a country boy and my first helmet as a freshman was leather but did have a faceguard.  Times have changed) There are great concerns for the number of head injuries in football.  Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) as we know from our wounded military heroes, is something that can haunt someone their whole life or even shorten that life so it is encouraging that the NFL is looking for ways to protect the players.  But I ask you this:  If they make football as safe as being a bookkeeper (except if your Al Capone's bookkeeper), would you...will you...still watch it?